


Will You Have Me

by staymagical



Series: Keithtober 2019 [15]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 1800s, Alternate Universe - Historical, Estate Owner's Son Lance, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Keithtober 2019, Klancetober 2019, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Stable Hand Keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 14:37:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21078452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/staymagical/pseuds/staymagical
Summary: 1820: Keith is the stablehand on the expansive McClain family estate. Lance is the youngest son who has a fondness for a horse named Blue and an even deeper fondness for the young man who cares for her.Inspired by fanartist_willis (on Instagram) Historical Julance fanart“Keith?” Lance hisses as he squints into the darkened stables.With one last rub to Blue’s muzzle, Keith steps out into the dim light of the stables. “What took you so long?” he asks, trying for some semblance of anger. But the warmth in his eyes belie his tone.And when Lance’s gaze flicks to him, eyes alight with a smitten curve of his lips, Keith can’t feign anger any longer. He’s too far gone for this boy.





	Will You Have Me

**Author's Note:**

> Keithtober Day 17: Trees
> 
> I mention trees, that counts right?
> 
> This fic is a DTIYS piece for [fanartist_willis](https://instagram.com/fanartist_willis?igshid=192llsjd1cbvq) 4K contest. Inspired by their [Historical Julance](https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzqr5LhA_K0/?igshid=1xvhenlj7jgk7) piece

A soft breeze tickles the hair along Keith’s nape, cooling the sweat lingering on his skin from the sweltering heat of midsummer’s hottest day. Though now he gets to enjoy it a bit more now that his work for the day is done. He leans back against the stable doors with a sigh, watching the sun dip below the edge of the distant tree-covered hills and paint the sky in brilliant shades of orange and purple.

It’s beautiful, truly stunning. Though he hadn’t planned on watching it alone.

Lance is late. Very late.

Distantly, Keith can just make out the crunch of dirt underfoot, the sound getting louder as the person approaches the stables. It’s a steady gait with a slight bit of urgency but recognizable all the same. Keith immediately perks up. 

And his heart picks up in pace.

With one last gaze at the fading sunset, Keith pushes off the door frame and melts back into the shadows of the interior of the stables, hiding himself from view of the road that leads to manor up the hill. Best to be out of sight of prying eyes when Lance arrives, just to be safe.

Keith sidles up next to Blue’s stall, giving his favorite horse a gentle rub on the muzzle and listening to the footsteps grow louder with anticipation as nerves set his heart racing beneath his breast. Even after all these illicit meetings over the months, his reaction has yet to change. And he hopes it never does.

Keith’s gaze sweeps past the horse’s muzzle just as Lance enters the stables, perfectly backlit by the brilliant sky above of the setting sun. Keith’s breath stutters out of him in a fluttering exhale.

And he’s reminded why he’s willing to risk so much.

This. This feeling, these emotions and butterflies and racing of his heart just as the sight of Lance, there’s no mistaking it. The elation in his chest, the pull of his heartstrings, the never-ending waves of affection and warmth and joy that fill his every crevice until he’s bulging at the seams. Until he’s complete.

That’s what Lance does to him. How could that ever be considered immoral?

“Keith?” Lance hisses as he squints into the darkened stables. 

With one last rub to Blue’s muzzle, Keith steps out into the dim light of the stables. “What took you so long?” he asks, trying for some semblance of anger. But the warmth in his eyes belie his tone.

And when Lance’s gaze flicks to him, eyes alight with a smitten curve of his lips, Keith can’t feign anger any longer. He’s too far gone for this boy.

Lance steps forward and Keith meets him halfway, arms sliding around his waist as they press into one another until they rest comfortably like two halves coming together to make a whole.

“Father kept me after my studies and delved into the most dreadful lecture on propriety and courting,” Lance explains, pressing a gentle kiss to Keith’s forehead. Then he leans back just enough to raise a mischievous eyebrow at Keith. “He’s under the impression I have a secret sweetheart.”

Keith freezes and he swears his heart stops with the cold chill running down his spine. “What?” he manages on a stuttering breath.

But Lance seems unperturbed, his grin only widening as if telling a riveting tale. There’s a glint in his eye that Keith has learned by now not to trust, that betrays his wit. “Granted, he’s not entirely incorrect, as you well know, just miscalculated a few of the more minor details.” He waves his hand in the air flippantly, like he’s dismissing a droning topic instead of the very thing that could send them both to the noose. “I tried to set him straight but he’s entirely taken with the notion that I’m besotted with Miss Alfor and won’t hear another disputing word about it.”

Keith’s heart restarts with a shuddering exhale of breath. But the fear lingers, running through his veins like a forewarning promise he can’t ever shake.

He smacks Lance’s arm. “Don’t jest. That is no laughing matter.” But Lance’s grin only breaks into infectious laughter that Keith fights hard not to catch.

“Maybe just a little?” Lance asks, pulling Keith flush against him again with an amused lift of an eyebrow. When Keith refuses to budge, Lance just grins before leaning in for a soft kiss. And goddamnit Keith has never been able to resist Lance, his anger thawing beneath the tender press of lips. 

“Only a little,” Keith finally concedes against the onslaught of Lance’s affection.

He melts into Lance then, allowing himself a brief moment of weakness against this vice he has fallen so hard for. Lance’s hands wander beneath his shirt, map out his skin and leave goosebumps pimpling on his flesh. There are tender touches and soft caresses, and lips parting into a deepened kiss. 

But he can’t let himself get carried away. They’ll have time enough for more later. 

Keith pulls away reluctantly, tone soft and shy against Lance’s lips as he says, “I have a surprise for you.”

“Oh?” Lance quirks an eyebrow, his expression amused as he pulls back just a handbreadth to study Keith. He traces Keith’s chin with a finger. “Pray tell, my love?”

Keith shakes his head and unwillingly steps out of Lance’s warmth, sliding his hand down his arm until their fingers lace together. “Then it wouldn’t be much of a surprise now would it?” Keith huffs. He gives Lance’s hand a tug with an alluring grin, leading him out into the chilled moonlit night. “How long have you got?”

Lance glances up at the moon. “One, perhaps two hours at most.” He shivers in the wake of a breeze, his linen shirtsleeves providing little protection against the cooling night. Keith hopes to remedy that when they arrive at the lake.

“That’ll have to do then,” Keith whispers with a nod. He gives Lance’s hand another tug as they slip into the surrounding trees, the chirping of crickets picking up like an orchestra playing just for them.

When Keith glances over, the moonlight is cutting across Lance’s face, setting his tanned skin aglow and his eyes shining with the reflection. He looks nearly ethereal at that moment, so otherworldly, so pure that Keith yearns to just keep running through the countryside until they are far enough away from the pernicious reaches of society. Where they can be as they are without the constant threat of harm or death. 

And in true Lance fashion, he chooses that moment to flash Keith a smirk before opening his mouth to immediately ruin the ethereal imagine. “Is that long enough to have your wicked way with me, oh handsome stablehand.”

Keith shakes his head with amusement on his lips. “Your father is right, your courting is atrocious.”

“And yet you’re fond of me all the same,” comes his playful response, throwing a wink Keith’s direction when he glances back.

Keith’s heart flutters. “Heaven knows why.”

They fall into silence then, trudging through the forest, hand in hand. Around them the world has come to life in the light of the moon, creatures scurrying along the underbrush, twigs snapping underfoot as leaves dance on the back of the breeze. Keith takes a deep breath of the fresh night air, trying to calm his nerves and his racing heart. 

Soon enough, they are breaking through the edge of the trees and onto the small grassy clearing that makes up the lake’s shore. The hidden spot Lance had discovered as a kid and kept all to himself. The spot he had later shared with Keith for it to become theirs.

And at the edge of the grass, just a few feet from where the water gently laps at the rocky silt shore, lays a blanket with a wicker basket nestled in the center.

Keith had it all planned out days in advance. He borrowed a basket from the manor kitchen, flitched the softest blanket he could find from the servant’s quarters, and begged Hunk to help him bake some of Lance’s favorite sweets. He risked being caught stealing, being caught courting the master’s youngest son, and being caught as a perversion in society, all just to show how hard his heartbeat for Lance. How devoted he was, how this was not just a simple fling for him, how he would do whatever it took to stay by Lance’s side. 

How this was, if he would have him, eternal.

“Oh,” Lance breathes, voice dazed with awe and eyes shimmering in the moonlight. He takes another small step toward the picnic. “Did you listen to my father’s lecture as well?”

“No, my love. I listen to you,” Keith says. He keeps ahold of Lance’s hand as he lowers himself to one knee before him and waits for Lance’s gaze to flick down to him. And when he finally does, Lance’s eyes are so blue, Keith is sure he’ll drown in them. “Will you have me?”

The ring is simple, the best Keith could manage with what little money he had, strung on a thin leather cord so Lance could wear it around his neck, out of view to rest against his heart like a promise. They couldn’t get married, not in any legal sense, but Keith hoped that this ring, this oath of his love and devotion, would be enough. That, should he accept, their vows to each other were equal to those between a man and his wife. 

Between one breath and the next, Lance pulls Keith up by their joined hands, tears carving tracks down his cheeks. But his smile is nothing short of pure joy and love and when he kisses Keith, he sparks a fire in Keith’s veins that threatens to consume him.

Keith burns with it. 

“Yes,” Lance whispers into his skin between kisses. “Forever.”

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my Instagram for more Klance and VLD drabbles and short fics: [staymagwrites](https://www.instagram.com/staymagwrites/)


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